I would describe The Light Who Shines, author Lilo Abernathy's debut novel, as crime-meets-paranormal with a fair amount of mystery, thrills, some romance and a pretty steamy sex scene or two! 

 

It is the year 2022, in the time of the Red Ages. Bluebell Kildare is an Inspector attached to the Homicide Unit of the Supernatural Investigation Bureau. The Unit picks up cases in which the perpetrator is a Vampire or someone magically Gifted. Blue is signed a new case in which the victim met his end in a particularly gory manner, unusual in that it is seemingly unrelated to his Gift.

 

Lilo Abernathy's words tell the story with an easy flow, pulling you in slowly from the start, until you realised hours have passed but you just have to read one more chapter! The characters are engaging and endearing, or menacing and unrepenting. Blue is a worthy heroine but shows her vulnerability at the same time. 

 

My only criticism of this novel is that there are a few spelling/grammatical errors, but, given that this is a self-published novel, this number pales into insignificance when compared to other similar books. Roll on book 2, The Light Who Binds!

 

Sincere thanks to Lilo Abernathy, for providing me with a review copy; and to Varg, who we would love to welcome here at the house of hounds!

Wow, I loved this book from start to finish. It was fast paced, action packed and a little suspense thrown in.
I loved the character of Bluebell Kildare, she was such a likable character, strong, unsure of herself but always wanting to do things on her own as if to prove her self good enough.
The story basically is about Bluebell who is magically gifted investigating the gruesome death of a teenage boy and finding herself into deep while fighting her growing feelings for her boss Jack who is a daylight vampire, and who by the end of the book I was mentally shouting at silly male.
I also loved Varg the mysterious wolf who appears to save Blue and never leaves her side, always looking out for her.

The story it's self was fast paced and started basically straight away, I liked that, no chapters of pointless getting to know the characters in this book you got to know them as the book progressed which I found made the book all that more interesting.

All the characters worked well together and I liked that there weren't too many to keep track of.

I did have a little cry the last couple of chapters.
All in all this is a great start to what could be a good series, this book reminded me a little of the Racheal Morgan series by Kim Harrison. I loved it from start to finish and am eagerly awaiting book 2.

God damn. God damn. That was awesome! I'm so glad I gave this story a second chance because it really did deliver.

Blue was a wonderful character. She has a sharp wit and a deep sense of honor. She's never had it easy, so she's become a pro at pulling herself up by her bootstraps and getting the job done. And all without becoming a jaded bitch, too. Jack was... interesting. I understood his reservations towards a relationship, but unless there is some prophesy that says their getting together would bring on Armageddon, I don't agree that there is a problem. His feelings towards Blue were loving and getting to see his POV was a nice escape from Blue's mind and a welcome glimpse at Jack's. I think they would/will make a lovely couple. But I don't know anything about him really.

The vampire mythology that Lilo Abernathy came up with was really interesting. It made sense - if vampires and demons and all that were real, this mythology would be entirely believable. I would have liked a little more information on the physical and behavioral differences between Daylight Vampires and Night Crawlers, but beggars can't be choosers. As for the Illustrissima... I desperately wanted to know what this was about and though I have a few ideas, I'm anxious to find out Blue's"true purpose".

As for the romance, there isn't a whole lot of it but the flip to Jack's POV keeps it interesting. It gets super hot and steamy for a bit, then simmers slowly before a surprising 180 at the end. I'm not sure where Jack and Blue stand now, but I hope they're together.

Now, onto the drama... dun dun dunnn! Lilo Abernathy gives us some seriously gritty crimes. This isn't just some wicked vamp ripping out throats - the villain is truly villainous and motherfucking evil. The bloody scenes are described very well, giving us a true sense of horror and blood without being salacious and overly done. I knew who the villain was immediately after they were introduced, but I wasn't sure if they were working alone or with a partner. So I was still anxious to get to the climax even when I knew who Blue would be confronting. Besides, they were seriously evil. You just knew shit was gonna be bad. No way to not look forward to that.

On the writing/grammar/editing front - I didn't notice any mistakes or issues. I stumbled over a few sentences that I felt were worded oddly, but I think that was related to it being written in present tense and I'm just not used to it. As for the present tense, it's something I've always had problems with. I literally read the first few sentences of this book, skimmed a paragraph to double check and then shut it down because it was written in first person. After speaking to the author, I felt it deserved another chance and I'm so, so glad I decided to read it. Reading quickly, my brain kind of glanced past the present tense and the story was so engaging, I was too involved to care if it didn't.

The story felt kinda slow at times, but then I realized it's not that the story slowing down, it just stays at the same pace. It's a steady road instead of a rollercoaster, which I ended up liking. Obviously, since I stayed up until 4am to finish it in one sitting. Pretty sure my feet are asleep.

My only real complaint is a dangling plot thread that I assume will be picked up in the next book. Blue is attacked by somebody and agrees not to press charges if he leaves her be. He agrees, but is then seen... "cavorting with Blue's enemy"... for lack of a better phrase. After that, he's never mentioned again. Honestly, I was really hoping for a resolution that resulted in a major triumphant moment for Blue and an entirely humiliating and possibly life-ending loss for the bad guy. Alas, the most immediate threat of the villain was taken care of, leaving the bad guy to cause havoc down the road while Blue tries to save the world for ungrateful humans.

I look forward to it!

God damn. God damn. That was awesome! I'm so glad I gave this story a second chance because it really did deliver.

Blue was a wonderful character. She has a sharp wit and a deep sense of honor. She's never had it easy, so she's become a pro at pulling herself up by her bootstraps and getting the job done. And all without becoming a jaded bitch, too. Jack was... interesting. I understood his reservations towards a relationship, but unless there is some prophesy that says their getting together would bring on Armageddon, I don't agree that there is a problem. His feelings towards Blue were loving and getting to see his POV was a nice escape from Blue's mind and a welcome glimpse at Jack's. I think they would/will make a lovely couple. But I don't know anything about him really.

The vampire mythology that Lilo Abernathy came up with was really interesting. It made sense - if vampires and demons and all that were real, this mythology would be entirely believable. I would have liked a little more information on the physical and behavioral differences between Daylight Vampires and Night Crawlers, but beggars can't be choosers. As for the Illustrissima... I desperately wanted to know what this was about and though I have a few ideas, I'm anxious to find out Blue's "true purpose".

As for the romance, there isn't a whole lot of it but the flip to Jack's POV keeps it interesting. It gets super hot and steamy for a bit, then simmers slowly before a surprising 180 at the end. I'm not sure where Jack and Blue stand now, but I hope they're together.

Now, onto the drama... dun dun dunnn! Lilo Abernathy gives us some seriously gritty crimes. This isn't just some wicked vamp ripping out throats - the villain is truly villainous and motherfucking evil. The bloody scenes are described very well, giving us a true sense of horror and blood without being salacious and overly done. I knew who the villain was immediately after they were introduced, but I wasn't sure if they were working alone or with a partner. So I was still anxious to get to the climax even when I knew who Blue would be confronting. Besides, they were seriously evil. You just knew shit was gonna be bad. No way to not look forward to that.

On the writing/grammar/editing front - I didn't notice any mistakes or issues. I stumbled over a few sentences that I felt were worded oddly, but I think that was related to it being written in present tense and I'm just not used to it. As for the present tense, it's something I've always had problems with. I literally read the first few sentences of this book, skimmed a paragraph to double check and then shut it down because it was written in first person. After speaking to the author, I felt it deserved another chance and I'm so, so glad I decided to read it. Reading quickly, my brain kind of glanced past the present tense and the story was so engaging, I was too involved to care if it didn't.

The story felt kinda slow at times, but then I realized it's not that the story slowing down, it just stays at the same pace. It's a steady road instead of a rollercoaster, which I ended up liking. Obviously, since I stayed up until 4am to finish it in one sitting. Pretty sure my feet are asleep.

My only real complaint is a dangling plot thread that I assume will be picked up in the next book. Blue is attacked by somebody and agrees not to press charges if he leaves her be. He agrees, but is then seen... "cavorting with Blue's enemy"... for lack of a better phrase. After that, he's never mentioned again. Honestly, I was really hoping for a resolution that resulted in a major triumphant moment for Blue and an entirely humiliating and possibly life-ending loss for the bad guy. Alas, the most immediate threat of the villain was taken care of, leaving the bad guy to cause havoc down the road while Blue tries to save the world for ungrateful humans.

I look forward to it!